West Mountain – Warren County, NY

It was another perfect late summer day, dry and cool, and just right for hiking. Holly and I, along with friends Bob and Carol, took a leisurely walk up Hadley Mountain, where we found the usual fine views. I’d already ‘burgered this summit back in January, so no cheeseburger this time. Off to the south is Great Sacandaga Lake, where Bob and Carol have a camp.

From Hadley, we followed an unofficial path over to its northern summit, also known to the USGS as West Mountain. The entire ridge consisting of several summits, of which Hadley is the highest, is actually “West Mountain”, but the USGS calls this bump West Mountain for cheeseburgering purposes, so I took a cold White Castle burger for the team.

To the north, we could see Blue and Crane Mountains. On a good day, the Adirondack High Peaks can be seen clearly, but today was a bit too hazy to see more than their faint outlines on the horizon. We were seeing the first faint tinges of fall in the landscape, with orange mountain ash berries everywhere and even a few red leaves beginning to appear.

This summit is always much less crowded than the main Hadley summit with its fire tower. There were several chairs here made of local rocks, and we relaxed, sat back, and enjoyed the scenery. We also found this artistic stegosaurus someone had created.

After the hike, we retired to Bob and Carol’s camp for a sumptuous dinner of REAL cheeseburgers, corn on the cob, salads, beer, wine, and strawberries for dessert.